


Quietening The Song

by vehlr



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, In Hushed Whispers Spoilers, Red Lyrium
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-07 06:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4252200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vehlr/pseuds/vehlr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The song is loud, but Varric manages to find something else in the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quietening The Song

He barely remembers life before the song. 

He wonders what Cassandra hears – she had shook him, desperate to understand the words he had spouted at her when they brought him back to the cell. She had confessed her immunity, explained what she knew of the Seeker Order, promised him vengeance. She would get them all out, she promised.

The song sounds like his mother, in the quiet.

*

“Seeker?”

She rarely talks anymore. He thinks she has run out of words to say. He fills the void between them anyway, a thousand stories to pass the time. It is all he can do.

*

It is his birthday. He spends it _screaming_.

*

“Varric?”

It is the first thing she has said in two weeks. He does not respond.

“Varric?” She shuffles over, hand light on his shoulder. “You are quiet. I – I do not like it.”

“Sorry, Seeker.” He rolls awkwardly onto his back, and she looks down at him. Her eyes are red. He can barely remember what colour they were before. “No story today. I’m all out.”

“Oh.” She hesitates for a moment, before lying next to him, leg curling around him as she tucks herself under his arm. “Varric?”

“Mm?”

“Did I – did I ever tell you about the dragon and the heretics?”

“I don’t remember that story.”

Her voice is rough, her words halting and awkward, but he has never heard such a wonderful story. His arm tightens around her, and for a while they forget the cold.

*

He wakes to find her staring at him, eyes mournful.

“What is it?” he whispers.

Her hand finds his, fingers tightening around his own. The crystals crunch between them. “I can hear it,” she says finally, voice soft. “I can hear the song.”

He sucks in a sharp breath. “Oh, _Seeker_ …”

“Is this what you have endured, all this time?” She shuffles closer to him, foreheads touching. “The lost, singing to you?”

He nods, reaching up to cup her cheek. “My mother,” he murmurs.

“Anthony.” Her eyes close at his touch. “Oh, _Anthony_.”

“I’m sorry, Seeker.”

“I knew it was only a matter of time, but…”

“Would a story help?”

She smiles slightly. “Not tonight, Varric. Just… just do not let go.”

“Never,” he promises, arm wrapping around her tightly. “ _Never_.”

*

He dreams of a world in shades of blue and green and yellow. He dreams of Hawke’s laugh, of Bianca’s smile, of a princess with Cassandra’s eyes.

And then the nightmares come, but he is awake and the screams are real.

*

They bring him back to her, and her hands are quick to hold him.

“You are _alive_ ,” she sobs, face buried in his shoulder. “I thought – oh, Varric, I thought you had -”

“Hey,” he murmurs, voice hoarse and threadbare, “I’m still here. I’m still here, Seeker.”

She pulls back to examine him, one hand brushing his hair from his eyes. He offers a weak smile, and her eyes linger on his mouth for a long moment. And then her lips press against his, the softness marred by the crystalline crust. But he has never known a sweeter kiss, his hand coming up to slide into the thick mass of hair.

She pulls back with a soft gasp. “I – I should not have -”

His throat lets out a whimper as he clings to her, pulling her back down as he meets her mouth hungrily. She melts into his touch, opening up to him as her hands bunch in his shirt and tease at his chest and her own soft moans break through the darkness.

They had claimed his sanity, his hope and his friends. This, they could not take from him. This was his – she was his, if only for a moment.

It is a long time before they break, and even longer before she speaks.

“I wish -”

“I know,” he whispers. “I know.”

They meet in the dark, skin and crystal and barely-spoken words, and it is theirs.

*

Despite the darkness, despite the constant thrum of the song, despite the torture… there is happiness.

But it does not last.

*

They take her in the night. She never used to scream, but time wears everyone down eventually. Now he knows every inflection of her terror. He waits for them to bring her back, her laboured breathing audible from the doorway.

But they continue down the hall.

“Seeker?”

“Varric!” She pulls away, weak as she is, stumbling as she reaches the bars. He cups her cheek, pressing himself against the metal. “Varric, what -”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. Seeker, I’ll find you. I promise, I’ll come find you -”

“Varric, help me, please, _help me_.” The desperation in her voice is more horrifying than any scream so far.

They bear down on her and he pulls her chin up, meeting her eyes with a smile. “Hey. I’ll _find_ you,” he promises, leaning forward to kiss her. But they yank her back from the bars, unmindful of her fresh cries as they lead her away.

He can hear her sobs echoing through the halls. For a long time, he cannot hear the song.

It is not the relief he thought it might be.

*

It is her birthday. He spends it in solitude. And then the Inquisitor arrives, and Varric does not know what to believe.

*

She is _praying_. That she still has faith, after everything, is nothing short of a miracle. But when she looks up to find him standing side by side with the Inquisitor, her eyes shine with renewed hope.

“Seeker.”

“Varric?”

He offers her his hand, hauling her to her feet. “Sorry I took so long,” he drawls, and she smiles, squeezing his fingers.

“Perhaps next time we will be a little luckier.”

“You think this’ll work?”

“I think I will die for the chance to live this life over again with you, far away from this place,” she whispers.

He kisses her knuckles, pressing her hand to his cheek. “Good enough for me. Let’s go kick some Elder ass.”


End file.
